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MAN: He said because he is the strongest person in the valley he guaranteed he would make sure everybody puts everything into the barn. He said he would personally divide it all up and issue everybody with their own share. WOMAN: Yeah, I’ll bet he would. MAN: Anyway, we all knew what that would mean: Having your head knocked in by Mr. Mason. WOMAN: Well, you had a bright idea. MAN: Nope, I had an inspiration. I suddenly had the notion of nobody putting any produce into the barn at all, and everybody keeping everything they made for themselves. WOMAN: Hah, hah, hah! Mrs. Fisher immediately said that would mean they would eat nothing but fish for the rest of their lives, and Mr. Carpenter asked if you expected him to eat hammers and nails for his supper. MAN: Yes, he did, as a matter of fact, and Mrs. Farmer said: Where was she supposed to get new clothes when the old ones wore out WOMAN: Well it did seem a reasonable question in the circumstances. MAN: But it was – I-I-I mean, it is. Don’t you see We can’t possible wear all the clothes we make. But we do need corn and milk, and we do need fruit and fish, and we do need all the other things everybody else makes and grows. WOMAN: So MAN: So, we swap. WOMAN: An inspiration! MAN: That’s what they all said. Mr. Fisher immediately noticed that if the Shepherds didn’t produce any sheep- they wouldn’t have anything to exchange. WOMAN: And Mrs. Carpenter said, “Right, no mutton from the Shepherds, and they don’t get the fences from me for their lambing pens.” MAN: And if the Shepherds didn’t like the new plan- they could lump it and leave. WOMAN: It would just mean more grazing for the cattle. We’d have just as much meat as before, but it would be beef instead of mutton. MAN: It’s a way of making the Shepherds behave, without having to put Mr. Mason in charge of everything. Everybody was delighted. Although he’s not that bright sometimes, even Mr. Mason began to see how he would benefit. WOMAN: That’s how we all agreed to have a swapping day every week- in the square in front of the big barn 26
MAN: Remember that first day The Fishers brought an enormous load of beautiful fresh salmon – beautiful it was! Everybody swapped their cloth, their milk and their fruit, and even a stool from Mr. Carpenter for the fish. WOMAN: Swapping worked so well, we began to do it every day for things like raspberries, and milk and fish that don’t last but we want every day. There was no end to what we could swap if someone else wanted it. MAN: Even Mr. Mason promised to build a jetty for the Fishers, if they would supply him with one salmon a week for the whole year. WOMAN: Yes, everybody thought it was a wonderful system except the Shepherds. They brought practically nothing to swap. MAN: When anyone made a bargain it was marked on the wall for everyone to see. That’s why we called our square the “mark it place,” it became the busiest place in the village – in fact, it became the village center. WOMAN: Oh, dear! The Shepherds had a pretty thin time that first day, especially as the Fishers had brought along masses of salmon which made up for the shortage of mutton. That night, the Shepherds went home practically empty-handed. But the next week was a different story. The Shepherds came back with an enormous supply of sheep. Mrs. Shepherd said that last week she had lost her sheep and didn’t know where to find them ‘til this week. And if you believe that you’ll believe anything. MAN: Well, as time went by- the market became the best family outing of the week. Not only did everyone discover the value of their produce for everyone else that day, they saw all their work rewarded. WOMAN: They discovered other things, too. They found out what was happening in the village. They found out what people needed so that they knew what to provide next time. MAN: Of course, the word “market” didn’t really originate from the mark on the wall of the barn, and the world we’re living in these days is very different from the kind of life you saw in our village. But, from time to time, people do try to live without markets. The famous example is the kibbutz in Israel. Here everyone works for the community, but the most successful depend on growing or producing things which are then exported and sold in the markets of the world to provide money for the kibbutz’ common pool. In return for their work- people get food and shelter but few of the kibbutzes are really selfsufficient. WOMAN: In the 1960s, many groups of hippies tried to make new lives for themselves, by getting together to grow their own food, make their own clothes- and even build their own villages. Their idea was to share everything equally, but not many of their communities flourished. Some people found life too hard; there were personality clashes and people walked out; others needed doctors or medicines and when there weren’t any they left, too. But hippie communes that survived tended to specialize in crafts, leatherworks, gem works, and jewelry. But to sell their work, and to buy what they needed to live, they had to take their wares outside to the markets. Like the people in a kibbutz, they quickly realized the undeniable advantages of a market to the survival of their chosen way of life. MAN: Markets just spring up spontaneously. Look at car boot sales – nobody launched them, they just happened. Now tens of thousands of people go there every week 27
Page 1 and 2: TRANSCRIPT 2002 Filmore Avenue Erie
Page 3 and 4: MAN: And everybody seems to be depe
Page 5 and 6: MAN: Don’t worry. It’s bound to
Page 7 and 8: Division of Labor 1: Product MAN: U
Page 9 and 10: WOMAN: The Tailors. MAN: Right! WOM
Page 11 and 12: Division of Labor 2: Process MAN: G
Page 13 and 14: MAN: He says a trader is somebody w
Page 15 and 16: TRADER: Oh, champion. WOMAN: There
Page 17 and 18: WOMAN: And we even managed to put s
Page 19 and 20: WOMAN: It adds up to a surplus. The
Page 21 and 22: MAN: Yes, and as a result: eight fa
Page 23 and 24: MAN: And for all but a few thousand
Page 25: WOMAN: And they spent all those eve
Page 29 and 30: Money MAN: It worked very well at f
Page 31 and 32: MAN: …time and energy which we ou
Page 33 and 34: MAN: To stop that, they specially m
Page 35 and 36: MAN: Trouble was they were just lik
Page 37 and 38: MAN: And there we were at the end o
Page 39 and 40: Supply, Demand and Price 2. Price a
Page 41 and 42: WOMAN: Yet, the surprising thing wa
Page 43 and 44: MAN: The higher the price offered,
Page 45 and 46: MAN: But would you believe it They
Page 47 and 48: everything. And we saw how hardship

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